We're Active: Week 4

Yesterday, we entered into our 4th week of being active to be matched! The most eventful thing in our house this week was not adoption related, but stomach bug related!! Ugh! Last Tuesday, H's teacher called to say that we needed to pick her up from school as she had thrown up. She remained sick until Sunday! Friday, M came down with similar symptoms and is still having issues. Sunday, I caught the bug and while I felt better Monday and Tuesday, relapsed on Wednesday and am currently nesteled in my bed! Thankfully, K has managed to avoid the worst of it and only ran a low fever one evening. This is definitley one of the longest lasting bugs we've ever had!! 

We're planning on having a yard sale to raise money for our adoption costs this Saturday, since our subdivsion is also having their yearly sale. At first it looked to be a rainy day, but since the forecast looks great, I am going to try to muster enough strength to make it happen! Thankfully, my mom and dad took the girls for a few days so I can rest and my mom will help with the yard sale! She's amazing! 

Our t-shirt fundraiser is going fairly well so far! we've sold 15 shirts but we need to sell 50 total before they can be printed and we can earn our donations. We have 15 days left to sell them! If you're interested in purchasing one, click on the previous post for a link! 

On the adoption front, we found out we weren't matched with the last birth mom that we had chosen to present to, but were immediately sent another situation which we chose to present on. We'll see what happens! It seems like cases come in bunches and we saw a lot the first two weeks we were active and it has kind of slowed down somewhat. It's hard to be patient, especially when we hear about other matches, but then we remind ourselves that the goal of adopting for us is not self-satisfaction, but to be servants to God's desire for us to adopt and to be waiting with open arms for the child He has ordained for our family. 

Adoption is a hard, beautiful, purifying process. We know that we are at the beginning of a beautiful story that has already been written--and that is exciting! 

**Rebecca Radicchi quote image belongs to FAC

50 T-Shirts in 20 days!!

We just launched a new fundraiser for our adoption. Help us to sell 50 t-shirts in 20 days! If we sell more than 50---Yay! 

We hope these shirts also help to raise awareness about the need for adoptive families too! When you receive your shirts, please email or send me a photo via Facebook! I am going to create a gallery on our blog! Our future son or daugther will have one amazing baby book! He/She will be able to see the faces of all the people who supported their homecoming! 

What you need to know: 

-$8 from each t-shirt sold will go directly to our family

-You can make additional donations besides just buying a tee

-Your credit card or paypal account will not be charged until we meet the minimum of 50 shirts and they are shipped! 

-Share with your friends and family 

-We only have 20 days!! 

Please use this link to access the page to order: 

Johnson T-Shirt Fundraiser

https://www.bonfirefunds.com/johnson-family-adoption-fund-1

Rental Property Fire & A Quick Adoption Update

As many of you know, after our house in STL was on the market for over a year, we decided that we would rent it until the market improved and we could sell. While we were visiting family there last week, there was a fire at that house. While it has been very hard to see the house we loved in such a mess, we can already see blessings having come from this incident. Yes, I said blessings! 

The fire started in the garage and there were only flames in the garage. I was pretty shocked when I went inside. It's crazy to see the damage that smoke and heat caused! It honestly looks like there were flames inside the house. The fire department did have to put a hole in the ceiling inside to make sure the fire wasn't in the attic and they did break a window in the kitchen to have some ventilation while they dealt with the fire. By the time I arrived, the men were almost done boarding up the garage. It's definitely hard for us to look at these photos. 

Counting my blessings: 

1. No one was hurt in the fire. Our renter was able to get out safely. 

2. We have insurance that will take care of the cost of all the repairs. They will basically gut the house and it will be entirely new (down to the light switches, toilets, etc.)

3. There was no structural damage to the house (only two beams in the garage were damaged). 

4. We'd had some problems with our renter and this fire revealed some information that, had we not found out at that time, could have been more troublesome. 

5. The insurance company will handle further investigation into the cause and origin of the fire and lease violations. 

6. It happened while we were in town! K was able to get there pretty quickly. 

7. Our neighbors there were very supportive and helped to check up on things and kept an eye on K and his dad while they changed locks and closed up the house. 

Prayer Requests: 

1. For patience and wisdom as we navigate all the repairs, interact with the insurance company, and plan to sell the house when the repairs are finished. Pray for a quick sell! 

2. For our renter--that he'll get his life on track and come to salvation 

3. For us as we again tackle two house payments, while we are also trying to save for adoption (this is probably the hardest part for me, as we were hoping a renter would allow us to save that extra money for our adoption expenses). 

4. For us as we wait to be matched with a baby and for wisdom as we fundraise and save. 

5. For our future little one and his/her birth mom

A quick adoption update: 

**We found out we were not matched with one of the babies that we had chosen to present on. There's always the "why not us?" question, but I am so thankful that because I KNOW that God has the little one He wants us to parent out there, because His plan is so much higher than my plan, we can continue to wait with hope and joy. 

We are overjoyed and so thankful that our adopttogether account has $1, 248. If you would like to donate you can do so here: 

https://www.adopttogether.org/kurtandpriscillajohnson

Adoption Update #6: We're Active!

Last Wednesday, our homestudy was officially finished and we became active to be matched! It was a relief to know everything was done with our homestudy but we're far from finished with paperwork! 

Since becoming active, we've chosen to present our profile book to two birthmoms (they won't be presented simultaneously though). We haven't heard information regarding these situations yet, as it could be several days for all the books the moms will see to be compiled and sent to her. No matter the outcome, we are praying for these women and these little babies! 

After our first situation to review came up, I have found myself awake far more at night. It's so humbling to read about another person in this way and I feel more burdened than ever for the plight of these women and their little ones. I also have found my thoughts racing about all the things "I" need to do to get ready, but really I am not in control! Adoption definitely makes me realize this more and  more! When I was physically pregnant, I was no more in control than I am now, but I felt as though I could "do" something, even just eating healthy, for my baby. I am so glad that God is using this process to teach me daily that He is in control and I am not..at all...not even a bit! 

So where are we now? Now, we wait! We could be matched at anytime with a baby due in a few days to a few months, to one already born! It's exciting and exhausting all at the same time. In terms of paperwork, we are now able to apply for grants and loans through various organizations. Almost all  grants require a completed homestudy to apply, so now we can submit those applications. 

In order to help with fundraising, I've been doing a few Instagram Auctions and have raised around $250 through those! We also were able to apply for and were accpted to have an account with Adopt Together. This is an online group that allows us to "receive" donations that can be considered "tax-free". When one donates to Adopttogether, the money goes directly to the organization. In turn, we can apply for a grant based on our doantions. This makes sure the funds are being used toward our adoption and saves us from having to handle the money. Also, donors can get a tax deduction for donating! We're raised $430 there so far! We can only request grants in increments of $500 or more so we hope that we'll be able to meet that minimum to use all the funds! 

If you'd like to donate to our account you can go to adopttogether.com/kurtandpriscillajohnson

We need to be prepared financially for being matched since up to half of the total adoption costs can be due at match. If our adoption is $35,000 then we'll need to pay up to half of that amount when we are matched. The rest will be due when the birth mom signs the relinquishment papers at 72 hours after the birth. If we are matched with a baby about to be born or already born, this means we could need access to a lot of funds in just a few days! To help with this process, we have a loan through our bank too! Right now, (including the federal tax credit and K's employeer donation) we have about $22,000. We're praying about ways to continue fundraising, saving ourselves, and applying for other grants and loans. 

Thank you for praying along side us and supporting us. Even though financial donations help relieve a great burden, we are truly grateful for all the prayers and caring inquiries about our adoption that we receive. Each time someone says they are praying for us, the birthmom, and our baby, it gives us such hope and peace. If you feel led to doante, please use the link to our page above. Feel free to share this blog or the adopttogether link too! Even if you can't donate or even if you can only give a small amount, sharing will help spread the word too! 

Every day our girls are starting to ask more and more about when "our baby" is coming! I think sometimes they believe the baby is coming UPS :)! It's so sweet to see their love for their future sibling! They are very excited about any baby item that enters our house and talk a great deal about all the things they are going to show the baby or share with him/her. It makes my heart overflow with joy! Even M told me that she would walk and hold my hand when I had to carry the baby! I love their generous hearts! 

Please keep our family in your prayers as we embark on the "big wait" and as we navigate difficult decisions! We can't wait to see how God writes this story! 

Adoption Update #5 and SNOW!

We've had a lot of snow here in Kentucky over the last month. The good thing about being snowed in is that we have had lots of time for working on stacks of adoption paperwork! The photo above is from one of our smaller snow storms, where K and the girls made their first igloo. Our next snow was much bigger (about 11 inches) and we got a second and bigger igloo then! Today, we have bout 12+ inches with more falling. I am curious to see what will spring up in our yard later today. The girls are ready for daddy to take them out to play! H has plans for a fort and I am pretty sure M expects to build Elsa's castle in the backyard! 

So where are we in our adoption? Right now, we are finished with our homestudy and waiting for it to be written up and approved! We should get news on that front next week. Everything looks good, so approval should happen! We also signed with our agency (FAC)!! When we signed with FAC, they sent us a packet of things that included five applications for agencies they generally work with. Talk about a mountain of paper! I went through an ink cartridge printing it all. K says that we should plant a few trees in honor of our new baby this Spring! Because we are working with a consulting agency, they network with other agencies to match. We don't know which agency we will be matched with, but by filling these applications out ahead of time, we will have them "ready to go" should we be selected to present to a birth mom. I feel like I've been writing the same information over and over! When I get tired, I think that each word, each paper, brings us one step closer to the little one that needs us and I keep going! 

We've also been working on our profile book this week. It's so hard to cram everything you'd want a birth mother to know about your family in a twenty page book! We were charged to avoid being "wordy" (hard for an English major) and to keep the photos to no more than 3 per page. That's hard for a scrapbooker too! Thankfully, we had some great samples to look at and I have been able to follow their model. We'll be sending a rough draft to our consultant later tonight. I'm praying that the changes are few and minor! 

Because our homestudy required so many documents, we don't need to gather too many other items for FAC. Sometimes I have to chuckle at the things we are asked to provide. This time I had a good laugh over needing the shot records for our dogs. Now, I understand why this is important, but it just seems so funny to me as well. 

Another fun thing that we did regarding adoption was a fundraiser on February 13th and 14th. Our dear friends the "C" family are also in the process of adopting domestically and had the idea to do a fundraiser where we would offer babysitting, at our church, for Valentines Day weekend. We had lots of volunteers from our church and probably around 80 kids total attended over the two nights. We did games, snacks, and crafts! K also did some juggling, yo-yo tricks and balloon animals for the kids. It was a great success and we made about $1200 to divide between our two families. I am just in awe and so thankful to the "C" family and to all our friends and family members that helped out! Our church is amazing in how they show the love of Christ to one another through service, and this was no exception. Here are some photos from those nights: 

 A small sample of some of K's balloon animals! 

 K doing the chinese yo-yo for the kids

My mom singing with the kids! 

Mr. P doing some games with the threes and fours! 

I have lots of sweet photos but I didn't want to post any faces here for privacy reasons. I am sure this little one's scrapbook will feature some of these precious pictures! 

So, what's next? Well, once we get this other stack of paper work finished and our profile book is edited (and printed), we will be listed as "active" and our profile can be presented to birthmoms! We could be selected quickly or could have a wait. We could be chosen by a mom ready to give birth or who has already given birth or by a mom who has a few weeks or months to go! There are so many unknown factors, but God is sovereign and we know He has a plan for us and this little one we have yet to meet. 

We also hope to be able to start applying for grants and loans as soon as our homestudy is approved. We are looking to provide a way for friends and family to donate tax-free money as well. Our biggest financial challenge coming up will be having the fees ready at the time of match. This could be up to 1/2 of our total adoption cost (we think we will hover around the $35,000 mark total), so that could be around $17,500. We need to make sure we have funds and loans ready so that we can be matched when the time comes. So, we'll probably be kicking off another fundraiser this week. 

How you can help: 

-Pray for our birthmom and baby, as well as our family as we navigate this process. Pray that we can love big no matter the outcome! 

-Pray for wisdom in dealing with the financial aspects of adoption 

-We'll be having a yard sale as soon as the weather warms up, so if you have items you would like to donate that we can sell, that would be a huge help! I can pick items up if you let me know! 

-If you feel so called, a donation would be a great blessing. You can donate directly to us or (coming soon) make a tax-free donation to our fund (we won't have direct access to the funds but the organization would pay our expenses directly through those funds. I will update on this as soon as it is finalized! We have to have homestudy approval before we can complete the form). 

Thank you so much for your prayers and support! We feel very loved and we know that love will spill over to this precious little one! 

~P

Adoption Update #4: Homework

We had our home visit almost two weeks ago and it went really well! We were excited to meet our social worker (Ms. A) as we have know a few other adoptive couples who have worked with her. The girls were very excited about the "special person" coming to our house! They were curious as to if she would bring us a baby and they both had requests regarding a baby. H told her that she needs a brother! M, on the other hand, was adamant about a girl baby. In fact, she told us that we could just get two babies--a boy and a girl. I think she's dreaming!! Ha! 

The home visit basically consisted of talking about our own family experiences/marriage and a tour of our house. The girls were really excited when Ms. A asked if the girls would show her our house. It was neat for them to feel like they could "do" something so important. 

The next step of our home study is to complete 10 hours of home work. We're reading the book pictured above: "The Connected Child"--or rather I am reading it out loud so Kurt make it throught he entire thing :). We've also watched a few documentaries and will do some online adoption training too. We hope to be done with the 10 hours later this week. Then, we'll scheudle our last visit (sans kiddos) to discuss our adoption questions and our parenting strategies. After that, our home study will be submitted for approval. Thankfully, all of our paperwork was correct--the only thing we needed were three signatures to be in ink and we've taken care of that! 

We are also almost finished with our application to the adoption consulting agency and will probably submit that late next week! Hopefully, we will be active in a couple of weeks after that!! 

I can never end these posts without saying that we are so thankful for God's sovereign provision! We've been blessed in a few big ways recently: 

*Seeing our parents get excited about a new grandchild and the girls being keen to welcome a new little brother/sister is pretty great! The girls (every time I type "they girls" have Gru's voice from Despicable Me in my head!!) are talking about baby's room and all the things they can do with "the baby". H is also asking great questions about adopting and really seems to understand what we are telling her! 

*Knowing friends and family are praying for us! I know this comforts me each day! 

*Hearing positive affirmations like "when the baby comes" and seeing my mom making a sweet quilt for the baby--this helps my heart know that there is a real, tangible little one out there who will become a part of our family. 

*Our sweet friends decided to include us in a babysitting fundraiser for Valentines Day! They are also adopting and we will be splitting the proceeds. We understand how special and selfless this is of them, and appreciate it greatly. It's been a huge blessing to see how so many couples from our church and other friends are not only participating, but also volunteering to babysit for 4 hours two nights in a row!!

*We're getting a tax refund! Hurrah! We thought we might have to pay taxes this year, but thankfully we'll get getting money back--money for our adoption!! 

*After meeting at work, hubby found out that he's getting a bonus/raise that is greater than we thought! What a blessing that we will be able to use these funds towards our adoption costs! Because of this we can pay for our agency fee and have a head start on saving for our next goal. 

Thank you for following our journey! I'll update again soon! 

~Pippy

Adoption update #3

We're plugging along in the paperwork process! In fact, we're trying to schedule our home visit with our social worker next week, so that's pretty exciting (and a bit scary). Thankfully, we know a few other couples in our small group who've had the same gal and they all loved her. Having advice and comfort in that area is a huge deal. The home visit will basically be a time for her to "interview us" and make sure we have an environment suitable for a baby. We'll also be able to turn over our paper work to her and await approval! 

One of the things I find most people are curious about is the cost of adoption. I know it was something I have been very curious about, as it seemed the biggest hurdle to bringing a baby home. When we started looking, we saw a range from $20,000-$50,000 for a domestic adoption. A lot of the cost depends on the type of agency (think a birth-mom centered organziation where babies are placed to adoptive families through that smaller group of birth-moms to a larger agency or consulting group that is networked across the country). Several other factors also contribue, such as the amount of care the birthmother will need during the pregnancy--housing, medical care, cell phone, etc. We expect our adoption to cost somewhere around $40,000. Roughly the cost of this---if you are a visual learner: 

When you really start to think about it, people take out loans every day to pay for luxury cars. Heck, $40,000 isn't even close to the high end of some luxury cars! Now, if you are gasping a bit for air (as I was at that price), remember that this number doesn't include travel/hotel stay (which could be up to 3-4 weeeks) or finalization. So, instead of getting extremely overwhelmed and having a panic attack, I pray, of course, and then remember the great resources that are available to us!

                          * $13,000 tax credit 

                          * $5,000 (employeer benefits, most companies offer something)

                          * Interest free loans for adoption 

                          * Grants 

                          * Fundraising 

There are so many more, like home equity loans too. The good thing about getting our home study approved will be that we can start to apply for those loans and grants. We will also hopefully (pending approval), be able to set up a page with Adopttogether.org. This is a crowd-funding organzation that will allow us to offer friends and family the ability to make a tax-free donation. We will have to turn in reciepts/documentation to request the funds, so I love the transparency of it. You can be sure that your donation is indeed being used to support the adoption. 

God has been so gracious to us already. Just a few weeks ago, our house that we rent had some maintence issues and we received a bill. Then, a few days later we got a random refund from our old dentist, saying we had overpaid for almost the exact same amount! So many kind friends and family members have supported our first fundraiser and have made donations. It's made a huge difference. We will be able to pay our homestudy fee entirely and by mid-February, we should be able to pay the entire agency fee--with some left over for the next step! Starting from zero--that's huge leap that we can't take any credit for! 

Now things will still creep up, like this clumsy moment I had this weekend: 

Yep, that's our glass stove top. I dropped a lid to a dish I was trying to sit on top of the cabinets (for decoration. Yes, it was Pyrex :) The lid survived. The stove did not. Now, I wanted to sit down and cry, but I have had such a peace about the whole thing. God will provide and it will be fine. We're checking into a few options to avoid replacing the whole stove (or in other words--the cheapest option). I'm kinda afraid to get glass again! 

After spending yesterday with a sore throat and mild fever, Hubby was able to find the "Call the Midwife" Christmas episode that we had missed as a bit of a treat. Guess what it was about? Come on....you know....yep...ADOPTION. There were several scenarios represented in the episode: a couple who had adopted and wanted to contact the birthmother to let her know her little one was well and loved, a teen who made the decision to give her baby up for adoption, a mother who chose to parent her child, and the very sad story of a young lady whose baby was taken from her after her parents forced her into an mother-baby home/adoption situation that she didn't want. 

My heart went out to all these mothers--the mother who couldn't have a child and was given one, the mother who lost her little one, the mother who chose to parent....Even though the show was set in 1959, women are making these hard choices every day. How can we support them in a loving, selfless way, no matter what decision they make? That's what I want for our birthmom. I want her to know we love her. Several people have asked, what if she changes her mind? Yes, I would be sad. Devestated? No. God has called us to adoption and we're not blind to the difficulties that it can bring. However, I believe that for whatever time God has called us to love on a birthmother and child, we will do it faithfully. Really, we don't know how long we will be with our biological children or spouse either. Yet, we are called to love them and serve them faithfully for an unknown time. Hard, yes. But also, so, so good! 

I'll update again once we have completed our home visit. Hopefully, I can share some information on tax-free donations too! 

~Pippy